


Hello Again

by SugdenLovesDingle



Series: Robron summer of love [3]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M, School Reunion AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 10:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20044411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugdenLovesDingle/pseuds/SugdenLovesDingle
Summary: Robert and Aaron meet again at their school reunion





	Hello Again

“Go. Enjoy yourself. Don’t worry about the little one, he’ll be fine.”

With those words Robert’s mum had all but shoved him out the door about an hour earlier.

He should’ve hid the damn invite. Or better yet, thrown it away.

The invite to his school reunion. He’d had no intention of going. He hadn’t gotten on particularly well with most of his class mates when they were in school together, let alone now, all these years later.

But his mum and his sister made one hell of a tag team.

“It’ll be fun to see your mates from back then again.” Sarah had suggested.

“I didn’t have any mates, mum. Most of the lads hated me because I snogged their girlfriends, and the girls hated me because I snogged their friends behind their backs.” Robert had sighed.

“Well it’ll be fun to see what became of everyone.” Vic had said. “You know, who actually became a doctor and who got fat and stuff.”

“I really don’t care about any of that.”

“Andy will be there too.”

“Is that supposed to make me want to go?”

Vic rolled her eyes.

“Well then just enjoy a night in the company of people your own age instead of a three year old.” She had said and his mum had handed him his jacket and his car keys and sent him on his way.

So that’s how he found himself drinking cheap booze surrounded by old classmates. He’d made small talk with a few people and pretended to laugh at some prat cracking bad jokes, and successfully avoided Andy, all the while checking his phone for updates on Seb, or any excuse to get out of there.

There was really only one person he’d be interested in seeing again, and he was sure the chances of that happening were pretty much 0.

He downed the rest of his drink and put his empty glass down on the nearest flat surface, ready to make his escape and hide out in a pub for an hour or two.

Only when he turned back around he was suddenly face to face with the one person who’d made his time at this school somewhat bearable. Even if he’d been too scared to admit it back then.

“Aaron?”

“Robert. I thought it was you. Didn’t think I’d see you here. Not really your style is it?”

“I uh… I… no… I mean… yes… I… uh… hi…. uh… long time no see…” Robert stammered.

“Yeah. It’s been a while. Graduation I suppose.” Aaron said, short and icy. He was angry and Robert couldn’t blame him. Not after the way he’d treated him.

“Yeah. How have you been? I heard you moved to France. I didn’t think you’d be here.”

“Well, I am.”

“Yes. It’s uh… good to see you. You look really good. I mean… yeah… uh… forget I said that.”

Aaron raised his eyebrows.

“Right.” He said and took a sip from his drink. “So, which one do you belong to?”

“What?”

“Which one” Aaron said again, this time gesturing to the rest of the people in the room, “Do you belong to? I figured you’d only show up with some pretty girl on your arm, so who is it?”

“Oh. No, I’m not with anyone. I’m divorced. And I have a three year old son.”

“Really now? You got the kid in the divorce? What did she get? The dog?”

“She did actually. Her psychopath of a teenage son’s dog. She was more than welcome to keep that.” Robert said, attempting to make a joke. “My ex wife isn’t my son’s mother. She’s his aunt.” He said and waited for Aaron to understand what he was saying.

“Sisters?” Aaron asked and Robert shrugged.

“Yeah apparently women don’t like it when you sleep with their sisters behind their backs, who knew eh?”

They looked at each other for a moment before bursting out laughing. Suddenly they were just Robert and Aaron again. Just like all those years ago.

“You haven’t changed much then.” Aaron said, but this time the tone in his voice was teasing and joking.

Robert shrugged.

“I’m trying. For my son. Trying to be a good dad to him.” He said and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. For what I did to you when we were in school. I was scared and confused and took it out on you… and I’m sorry.”

Aaron shook his head.

“We were kids. Forget it.”

“No. I just… let me explain? Do you want to get out of here?”

“Already? The party is only just getting started.”

“I’ve wanted to get out of here since I got here.” Robert admitted. “Let’s just… go for a walk?”

“Alright. Lead the way.”

They wandered around the school grounds together for a while and eventually ended up at a little hidden area behind the bike shed.

“Looks like this is still the place where people come to sneak a cigarette…” Robert said, kicking at the cigarette buds on the ground.

“Yeah… some things never change eh?”

Robert sat down on an overturned bucket and ran his hands through his hair, taking a few deep breaths as if to psych himself up.

“Look… I’m… I’m sorry I outed you… back then. I shouldn’t have done that. It was a horrible thing to do.” He said, looking up at Aaron.

“Yes it was.” Aaron nodded. “I wanted to deck you when I saw you earlier.”

“Yeah… I seem to have that effect on people.” Robert sighed. “I’m sorry. I panicked. I was confused and then Katie seeing us… I just panicked. And telling everyone you came onto me and kissed me seemed easier than dealing with the fact I liked boys as well as girls. I was afraid Andy would find out… and if he knew then my dad would definitely find out… I was terrified.”

“I understand. Now. I hated you back then. I think I’ve plotted your murder about every other day those last few months.” Aaron joked but then turned serious. “I was scared too. Suddenly the whole school knew my biggest secret and it would only be a matter of time before my family and the rest of the village knew too… I packed a bag and ran away. Only got as far as my step mum’s though. Camped out on my little sister’s bedroom floor for a week.”

“Wait. You have a sister?”

Aaron nodded.

“We grew up together until I changed schools and went to live with my mum.”

“You never mentioned her.”

“Just seemed easier.” Aaron shrugged. “Things were complicated back then. Didn’t want to be the kid with the messed up family AND the gay kid.” 

Robert nodded. He could definitely understand that. The Sugdens were well known in the area and everyone knew his father. Everything he and Andy, and in a lesser extend Victoria, did in school, somehow always got back to his parents. Sarah used to plead with him and Andy to at least try to get along, after she’d heard about their latest punch up, but Jack had had his own ways of making them get on. Which usually involved a lot of yelling. And even his belt once or twice.

“Robert?”

“Huh, what? Sorry I was miles away for a minute there.”

“I asked how your messed up family is these days.”

“Oh. Yeah. Uhm. My parents divorced. Dad remarried and still lives in the village. Andy took over the farm. Married Katie. I don’t really talk to them anymore.” He said as if he was reciting a shopping list. “Vic is seeing some bloke called Ellis… I haven’t met him yet but my mum has and says he’s a nice guy… Mum moved away and I lived with her for a while with Seb, Sebastian, my son. And we moved into our own place a few months ago.”

Aaron nodded.

“What about his mum? Is she in the picture at all?” He asked. “Sorry… tell me to mind my own business.”

“It’s ok. She lives in Liverpool. In a long term care facility. She has a brain injury from a car accident. I take Seb to visit her sometimes but she can’t look after him by herself.” Robert explained. “So yeah… my life is still a mess.”

“I don’t know,” Aaron said, grabbing a bucket and turning it upside down to sit down next to Robert. “Sounds to me like you’ve got things under control.”

“I’ve gotten good at pretending.”

They both laughed and let a comfortable silence fall between them.

“Do you remember when we came here? After that school disco in our final year?” Robert asked. “When we snuck away during that prom king and queen nonsense Katie and her friends had organised because they’d seen it in a film or something.”

Aaron nodded.

“Yeah of course I remember. How could I forget? I was nominated.” He grinned. “I don’t think anyone voted for me though.”

Robert smiled.

“I did.”

“Really? It’s a shame we didn’t stick around to find out who won then. Maybe I won and just didn’t know all these years. ” Aaron joked and bumped his shoulder against Robert’s who laughed.

“Yeah I’m sorry for taking you away from your crown.”

“It’s ok. I’ll live.” Aaron replied “We had a pretty good time, you and me. We always did when we were together, didn’t we?”

Robert nodded and started drawing lines in the sand with a twig.

“You gave me my first kiss. My first kiss with a boy.” He said softy.

“That was your first kiss?” Aaron asked, surprised.

“Yeah. You know what I was like in school. Do you really think I went around kissing boys back then?”

“I suppose not…” Aaron said after a beat. “It was my first kiss too.”

“What?”

Aaron nodded.

“Yeah. I had no idea what I was doing… but I figured it was alright since you didn’t say anything.”

Robert laughed and shook his head.

“So is this the part where I tell you it was the best kiss I ever had?”

“Wouldn’t mind that. But I like to think my technique has improved somewhat over the years.”

“Yeah? You’ve been getting regular practise sessions in then?” Robert asked, doing his best to sound casual.

Aaron raised an eyebrow at him.

“Is this your way of asking me if I’m seeing anyone?”

“No! Just… making conversation…” Robert trailed off, suddenly very interested in the twig again.

Aaron grinned and instead of answering the question, he put a hand on Robert’s knee to make him look at him, before leaning in to kiss him.

Their lips met, and it felt familiar and new and exciting at the same time. But before Robert really had time to thoroughly enjoy it all, an obnoxious ringtone started blaring from the pocket of his jeans.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.” Robert swore as he grabbed his phone and glanced at the screen. “Vic? What’s wrong? Is Seb ok?” He asked, worried.

“He’s fine. Don’t stress. But he had a nightmare.” Vic sighed. “Mum didn’t want me to ring you but he won’t go back to sleep without talking to daddy.”

“I’ll get in the car right away. I’ll be there in 20 minutes. Fifteen.” Robert said, getting up, patting his pockets with his free hand to find his car keys.

“No, no, stay. Enjoy your night. I’m just going to put you on speaker so he can hear your voice, ok?”

“I can be there in 15 minutes. I’ll take him home and tuck him in myself.”

“Seb, daddy’s on the phone for you. Do you want to say hello? Tell him what a good time we’ve had tonight?” Vic said to Seb, ignoring her brother.

“Daddy?”

“Hey mate, are you ok? Auntie Vic said you had a nightmare.”

“There was a monster.” The boy said softly and Robert could picture him curled up in Sarah’s lap, hugging his teddy bear.

“Yeah but you’re ok now, right Seb?” Vic asked.

“You have to speak, love, he can’t see you over the phone.” Robert heard his mum say laughingly. “He’s nodding.”

“Do you want me to come home Seb?” Robert asked. “I can come get you.”

“No, we’re fine, aren’t we love?” Sarah asked Seb. “We scared the monsters off together didn’t we?”

“Yeah? Did you?”

“He’s nodding again.”

“Teddy helped. He looked under the bed.” Seb told his dad.

“Yeah? Are you ok now mate? Do you still want to stay with nana tonight?”

“Yeah but Teddy wants to sleep in the big bed.”

“Does he now? Well, better ask nana if that’s alright then.”

“Of course.” Sarah said. “Plenty of room in the big bed for all of us.”

“Well that’s sorted then.” Vic said. “Say goodnight to daddy now Seb.”

“Goodnight daddy.” Seb said, sounding more like himself which made Robert’s heartrate return to normal.

“Goodnight Sebby. I’ll come get you in the morning ok? I love you loads and loads. Be a good boy for your nana. Bye.”

“Bye love.” Sarah said and there was a rustling as Vic took the phone off speaker. “Mum’s taking him back up to bed now.”

“Are you sure he’s ok?”

“He’s fine now. We’re all fine. Just enjoy your reunion. Say hi to Andy and Katie from me.” Vic teased and Robert snorted.

“Yeah, right.”

“Bye Robert. We don’t want to see you before midday tomorrow. Have fun, but not too much. Seb doesn’t need a brother or sister just yet.” She teased and ended the call.

“Everything alright?” Aaron asked as Robert put the phone back in his pocket.

“Er… yeah… it was Seb… he had a nightmare. Didn’t want to go back to sleep. He’s with my mum and Victoria. My sister.”

Aaron nodded.

“I remember Vic. So do you have to go now?”

Robert shook his head.

“No. Apparently everything is under control.” He said and sighed. “I’ve ruined the mood now haven’t I?”

“What? By talking to your son? Of course not. Besides, the night is still young. Do you want to go for a drink? There’s a pub down the road I think.”

“Yeah alright.” Robert said and followed Aaron to the car park, where they ended up flipping a coin to decide on whose car to take.

“This place looks alright, doesn’t it?” Aaron said when Robert parked his car next to the pub a little while later.

“Sure. I’ll get the first round in, shall I?” Robert said and moved to unbuckle his seatbelt and get out of the car but Aaron stopped him with a hand on his arm.

Robert frowned, confused, until the proverbial light bulb switched on when Aaron pulled him closer and leaned in to kiss him.

“How about we skip those drinks?”

\---

The next morning Robert woke up feeling slightly sore but more content than he’d had in a long time. Never in a million years had he thought that going to his old school’s reunion would end in anything but disaster.

And he’d never been more glad to be proved wrong.

And he’d also never been more glad that Seb was sleeping over at his nan’s.

It was probably considered bad parenting to have your one night stand (he really hoped that wasn’t all it was) meet your kid first thing the next morning.

He rolled over in bed to check the time on his phone and noticed a picture his mum sent him a few hours ago.

Seb sitting at the kitchen table with a big smile on his face and an even bigger pancake on his plate.

_“You spoil him ♥” _he replied and tried to decide between waking Aaron up for breakfast and a possible round two, or letting him sleep and surprising him with breakfast in bed.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, he wasn’t really sure, his mum made the decision for him by calling him. And nearly giving him a heart attack when the ringtone blasted through the room.

He really was going to change it. No matter how much the strange looks he got whenever his phone rang in public made Seb laugh.

“Mum, hi.” he said softly.

He didn’t want to wake Aaron but the other man started stirring anyway.

“Hi love, how was the reunion?”

Robert smiled to himself as he looked at Aaron who was slowly waking up next to him. Hair all over the place and pillow creases in his cheek, Robert thought he looked adorable.

“Yeah, you were right, it was pretty good.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had planned this to be just a one shot but I'm kind of feeling like writing some Aaron and Seb in another part. If anyone would be interested in that, that is.
> 
> little warning though - i'm terrible with multi chapter fics so a part 2 could take a while


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